ESp32 Simplified - My book in English Now available

The faithfull readers of this weblog know that I am using the ESP32 more and more in my projects. And a year ago I published my book about the ESP32 in the Dutch language. Then I started working at the English version but that took longer as I expected due to all kinds of circumstances. And finally it is available.

The book is intended for beginners.
All programs in the book are written in the Arduino Language (C++). It starts with installing the Arduino software. Next the installation of the ESP32 components for Arduino are explained followed by an explanation about libraries and how to install them. The introduction is completed by a brief explanation on programming in the Arduino language.

The book goes on with chapters that teach you how to use all kinds of sensors and actuators. All schematics are breadboard based and tested in real life. Then they were drawn in Fritzing for publication.

The book is not a real educational book neverthelsess each chapter ends with one or two excercises which you can build using the information from that chapter.

An important chapter shows how to read and control sensors on a self-build website. Besides that, working with cloud services Thingspeak and IFTTT are explained thoroughly.

The last chapter presents about 30 ideas for building projects which you can realise with the information in the book.

As you can see my book aims at helping beginners with building their own projects. Ideal for the upcoming lock-down holliday's.

There is no need to follow the chapters strict. If you have read the introduction chapters and want to start working with a certain sensor just head over to that chapter. Maybe at that time you will lack some background information but you can find that easily through the references to the relevant chapters.

To have the price as beneficial to everyone all pictures are in black and white. This lowers the price as much as possible while the book has still 348 pages !!!

ESP32 Simplified is available through Lulu the online self-publishing book company and is only available as a printed book.
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/luc-volders/esp32-simplified/paperback/product-5yr98e.html
Lulu is a long time established company that delivers books by Printing on Demand. This means that there is no stock of these books. As soon as you order a book they print it and ship it. Delivery time is usually 3 to 5 days after ordering, but this may take a while longer during the corona crisis. My proof version took about a week, The advantage for me is that there is no publisher involved and that I do not have to make an investment in a stockpile of books.

ESP32 Simplified will in a short time also be available through all major book selling companies like Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc.

The book contains 36 chapters:

Chapter 1
Who is this book intended for

Chapter 2
About this book
About the author

Chapter 3
Installing the Arduino IDE
ESP32 board install
Using the IDE

Chapter 4
Using the library manager
Using ZIP libraries
Installing libraries manually
First use of libraries

Chapter 5
ESP32 Pin layout
Digital Input/Output pins
PWM
Analog Input
Touch pins
I2C pins
Miscellaneous pins
EN, VIN, DAC. SPI, GND, 3.3V

Chapter 6
ESP32 on a breadboard

Chapter 7
Introduction to using a breadboard

Chapter 8
Power
USB Breadboard connector
Batteries
External Power Supply

Chapter 9
Programming Basics
Structure
Statements
Variables
Scope of a variable
Variables that can not be changed
Serial Communication
ESP32 specific pin commands
Digital INPUT
Delay
Digital Output
Analog Input
Touch sensor
Math and other functions
Testing for a condition
Comparison Operators
Combining comparisons
Repeating a part of a program
For Loop
While loop
Random
Digging Deeper

Chapter 10
How to attach a button
Button on a breadboard
The build-in pull-up resistors
Buttons or switches

Chapter 11
Led
Exercise

Chapter 12
Fading leds with PWM
Exercise

Chapter 13
Dallas DS18B20 digital thermometer
Installing the libraries
Building the DS18B20 breadboard setup
First test
Temperature alarm
Exercise
Another exercise
Real world applications

Chapter 14
Using an LDR for measuring light intensity
A first test
A practical example
Exercise

Chapter 15
Potmeter
How t6o attach a potmeter to the ESP32
Potmeter test program
Make a dimmer

Chapter 16
Servo Motor
First Servo test
Servo with a potmeter
Servo with buttons
Exercise

Chapter 17
Building a web server
Web Page history and background information
A Simple web page
Breadboard setup for web-control
Your first web server program
Exercise
Adding buttons to the webpage
Exercise
CSS for building a fancy webpage
Exercise

Chapter 18
More Power
The ledstrip program
Exercise

Chapter 19
Using mains power with a relay
The first relay program
Automatic night light
Exercise
Working with mains

Chapter 20
Touch sensor
How to use the touch sensor pins
First touch sensor program
A touch sensitive lamp
Exercise

Chapter 21
Controlling a motor
Plant watering system
Build your own ecosystem

Chapter 22
IFTTT
Step 1 building an IFTTT applet
Step 2 Find your IFTTT key
Step 3 Activate notifications on your phone
Step 4 Breadboard setup and program for the ESP32
Exercise with a practical use
More exercises

Chapter 23
Neopixels
Hardware setup
Neopixel library
Neopixels on a breadboard
First test program for Neopixels
Neopixel colors
Thermometer with led indication
Roll the dice
Exercise

Chapter 24
H-Bridge for advanced motor control
Electronics to the rescue
Breadboard H-Bridge setup
Breadboard with H-Bridge and leds
H-Bridge test software
Running slower or faster
More oomh
Tip
Exercise

Chapter 25
Movement detection with a PIR
The PIR test program
In real life
Exercise

Chapter 26
Motion detection with the RCWL-0156 Radar
The RCWL-0516 on a breadboard
Program for movement detection with the RCWL-0156
Real life use
Exercise

Chapter 27
Vibration detection
The vibration detection software
Exercise

Chapter 28
Tilt sensor
Exercise

Chapter 29
Interrupts
Example of an interrupt program

Chapter 30
Display data with the TM1637
Putting the TM1637 on a breadboard
Different ways of presenting data on the TM1637
The program
Exercise
A more advanced exercise

Chapter 31
Oled display
Breadboard setup
Library
Programming the SSD1306
Other Oled commands
A more advanced example
Exercise

Chapter 32
Thingspeak a cloud basede IOT
What is a cloud based IOT platform
Thingspeak
Sending thermometer values to Thingspeak
The program
Thingspeak options
Privacy

Chapter 33
Ideas

Chapter 34
Where to buy the parts

Chapter 35
Where to find more information

Chapter 36
Get going
Disclaimer
Liability

Get yours now:

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/luc-volders/esp32-simplified/paperback/product-5yr98e.html

Print Details:

Publication Date  24-5-2020
Language  English
ISBN 9781716942112
Pages 348
Binding Paperback
Interior Color Black & White

Dimensions US Trade (6 x 9 in / 152 x 229 mm)

Take care, be safe, good reading and have fun

Till next time

Luc Volders

Creality CR20 Pro arrived

For an index to all my stories click here

I have been in the 3D printing world for about 10 years. At first I started building my own 3D printer using a wooden (MDF) frame and drawer conductors. And I wrote my own software for controlling the electronics. Next to that I wrote a Python program to send GCODE to the controller board. Everything worked fine as a plotter but then I needed to build the print-head. As I did not own a lathe this was a big problem.

In 2010 I bought a DIY version of the Prusa I2. With a Megatronics control board. It was made from M8 threaded rods and printed parts. It was one of the first available 3D printers. I learned a lot from working with this printer. A big disadvantage was the build height. You could not print anything higher as about 12 CM with this printer. The reason was that when the print finished the extruder moved to the left and at that height would bounce against the threaded rods. If you want more information of the origin of the 3D printers look at this site: https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap

Afther 5 years in 2015 I bought a DIY delta printer called a Beagle. Made by Reprapworld. This was an enormous improvement over the Prusa I2 as it was more stable and had a large building height. It took me about two weeks to build. The Beagle printed with far more detail as the Prusa did. And I used it a lot. However there were some annoying things about this printer. Callibration of a Delta printer is a real pain. The belts got sloppy because they are more used as with a cartesian printer. And there was a cooling problem resulting in the printer stopping at some times. This all resulted in having to tune the printer for an half hour to an hour before I could get to serious printing.

Now we are again 5 years further and I decided to buy a new printer. Because I am one of the first customers of the Dutch Reprapworld company they lended me a CR20. My old printer was not working anymore and I was waiting for the new CR10 pro. After some research I opted for a Creality CR20 pro. And boy oh boy the technique has evolved a lot in these 5 years.

The Creality comes as a 2 part kit. A horizontal frame and a vertical frame. This makes shipping more convenient as the box can be of a reasonable size. Building the printer is 20 minutes work. Unpacking . Putting the frames together requires 4 screws to be fastened and then you need to connect the wiring which is documented well and each wire as marked. You can not go wrong.

Besides that everything needed is included. There are wrenches, allen-keys, tweezers, a paint scraper and even a spare nozzle and a nozzle cleaner. There is even an SD card included and a card reader. The SD card contains a manual, a slicer and examples ready to print.

To make things absolutely complete a printed manual is included and some PLA filament.

You can have this printer up and running in half an hour. Without getting to technical: the printer has a heated bed, auto-bed-leveling and a nice display.

The print quality is more as excellent. The printer printed a nut and bolt that fitted without any sanding, filing or whatever. Ready to use when the printer was finished. The screw in the middle and the circle with the upright point on the left are printed Makedo clones. Makedo is a system designed for kids to make all kinds of objects from cardboard which you screw to eachother. That is where the sharp point for is, to pierce the cardboard. The printed point is so hard that you can pierce three layers of cardboard effortless.

Here is another example. It is a model from Thingiverse and it is a demonstration of Tensegrity. The small transparant blobs is where the parts were glued for extra strength. I am now experimenting with glueing PLA and have a nice solution for that. but that is for another story.

Another advantage is the magnetic bed. The adhesion is excellent. You can pull the bed from the printer and bend it. The printed objects come loose without effort. Nevertheless I still use a glass bed which makes the bottom of the print even smoother. When I need that I just put the glass on top of the original bed.

Overall after two weeks of printing I am more as pleased. Callibration is a piece of cake and done within 2 minutes. The quality is outstanding. And until now I have not one print going wrong. Quite a difference with my previous printers.

For those of you who like looking at the specs:

- Printing size 220 x 220 x 250 mm
- Precision +/- 0.1 mm (thats one-tenth millimeter layers !!!)
- Maximum nozzle temperature 250 degrees C
- Maximum bed temperature 110 degrees C
- Filament 1.75mm
- Suitable for: PLA, ABS, TPU, PET
- Power consumption: 270 Watt
- Works with all popular slicers like Cura, Repetier etc.

Put it to use

Well there is a corona crisis going on and I decided to try to do my bit to help fighting the virus. So I gathered some friends who also have 3D printers and we started to print ear-savers for our local hospitals. I wrote about this in the first entry in May on this blog.

So now we have printed more. We delivered 160 pcs to the IJsselland Hospital, then 50 pieces to the Haga hospital and the last delivery was 170 pieces to the Sint Franciscus Gasthuis. We are doing this for free. No charges for the hospitals.

So have fun, and stay safe

Luc